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Precision warfare is a misleading propaganda term used to make people think that we can hit a target and minimize collateral damage to whitewash war crimes and

Precision warfare is a misleading propaganda term used to make people think that we can hit a target and minimize collateral damage to whitewash war crimes and make people accept often illegal and immoral acts of mass murder... "Precision, outside of the confines of military manufacturers and strategists, has taken on a new meaning that implies exactness with minimal unwanted damage. A focus on the razzle-dazzle of high-tech precise weapons conveniently avoids inconvenient questions about the legality and success of aerial warfare. This adapted usage has been reproduced by mainstream media outlets, especially in the US and UK, with little scrutiny. We are left with the widespread use of a word, fuzzed up and detached from its initial definition, that serves to benefit those in power seeking the extension of their military might overseas. " https://medium.com/@ambrosev/beware-the-deadly-vagaries-of-precision-war-9db6e0d12c0 https://medium.com/@ambrosev/beware-the-deadly-vagaries-of-p...

nonrandomstring 3y ago
Don't think this is only for civilian consumption and mass-media war propaganda. Everyone is taken in by technological razzle-dazzle. Especially the generals and politicians. That's how a certain country ended up spending an extra £100k per round to add high precision GPS targeting and guidance to wide dispersal flechette munitions. Now we can attack a square kilometre, with an accuracy of 50cm. Perfect for when you need to take out an enemy column right next to a school sports day, right? Most of us are taken in by the merest technological puff and bluster, with words like "precision", "accuracy", "power", "security" having no common meaning whatsoever. It's why we're in such a mess with privacy, cybersecurity and the like, because those in charge are good at comparing numbers but haven't the least idea what they're talking about at the most fundamental conceptual level.
ben_w 3y ago
Misleading though the term is, it's much milder than it used to be. The current conflict in Gaza is hard to get propaganda-free figures for, but it's not "everyone", and in Ukraine likewise propaganda makes it hard but the estimates are in the tens to hundreds of thousands. Disease is much much worse than war, even in the bad old days (WW1 17 million vs Spanish Flu 25-50 million), and today the comparison is with covid: even if Gaza was literally nuked with 100% fatalities, that's 2.4 million people, whereas Covid deaths, according to wikipedia, are: > 6,988,666 (reported), 18.2–33.5 million (estimated)

nonrandomstring 3y ago

Don't think this is only for civilian consumption and mass-media war propaganda. Everyone is taken in by technological razzle-dazzle. Especially the generals and politicians. That's how a certain country ended up spending an extra £100k per round to add high precision GPS targeting and guidance to wide dispersal flechette munitions. Now we can attack a square kilometre, with an accuracy of 50cm. Perfect for when you need to take out an enemy column right next to a school sports day, right? Most of us are taken in by the merest technological puff and bluster, with words like "precision", "accuracy", "power", "security" having no common meaning whatsoever. It's why we're in such a mess with privacy, cybersecurity and the like, because those in charge are good at comparing numbers but haven't the least idea what they're talking about at the most fundamental conceptual level.

ben_w 3y ago

Misleading though the term is, it's much milder than it used to be. The current conflict in Gaza is hard to get propaganda-free figures for, but it's not "everyone", and in Ukraine likewise propaganda makes it hard but the estimates are in the tens to hundreds of thousands. Disease is much much worse than war, even in the bad old days (WW1 17 million vs Spanish Flu 25-50 million), and today the comparison is with covid: even if Gaza was literally nuked with 100% fatalities, that's 2.4 million people, whereas Covid deaths, according to wikipedia, are: > 6,988,666 (reported), 18.2–33.5 million (estimated)